I'm leaving politics aside for a moment and talking about a social phenomenon that seems to have been building for awhile, at least where I am. I'm curious about whether you've noticed it in your area too. Forgive me if you think this is frivolous.
Here in the Boston area, there seem to be single women everywhere, but not many single men. My wife and I have many single friends, but almost all of them are women.
We're in our 30s and have been married for about three years. We thought we were pushing the envelope, having been too busy with careers and so forth. But the single-women glut here extends from the late 20s into the early 40s. What's going on?
The reason it occurs to me now to diary this is that I came in to work today, and there in the coffee room were three women, all quite datable, by the way, talking about how all that's left in single men is the "bottom of the barrel", and having a bit of a chuckle about it. One of them, 42, never married, just had a date last night with a 47-year-old divorcee, all she could dig up from match.com, and it seems he was not at all her type. One of them said, "Well, I guess we'll just have to learn to enjoy our own company."
And they're not far off. I feel like I have an obligation to help SOMEONE find a match, because a mutual friend did that for my wife and I. I owe somebody. And I've got plenty of single women to recommend, but no guys to pair them up with. Let me think of five single guys off the top of my head in the potential pool. One is extremely insecure, and it's hard to be around him for very long. Definitely a limited-dose person. Plus my wife thinks he's probably gay and hasn't admitted that to himself. Another still lives with his parents and is about as interesting as a brick. Two are just obnoxious weasels and are still single with good reason. The other one is nice but frankly kind of a dweeb. Wait, there's a sixth. Career bachelor. Can't even stay with a TV show for more than 15 minutes, let alone a relationship. Now let's go to the women. Attractive, nice, good jobs, pleasant company, clearly non-insane. And it's like they don't even go on dates because there's no one suitable out there. God knows I don't have anyone to set them up with.
What is going on here? How did this happen?
Every morning they come streaming down our street. Single women in their 20s and 30s on their way to work. They all wave at my 1-year-old daughter, who I often take out there for a breath of fresh air. Why don't the guys wave too? Because there aren't any.
(If you're a single guy, it should have occurred to you by now to go find your suitcase and get the hell up here. Yes, it's cold, but there are remedies for that.)
First, to New Englanders: have you noticed this too? Am I nuts?
And, to the rest of the country: Is this an isolated thing, or is this happening where you are, too?